The present invention relates to packaging material, and in particular plastic film. The invention especially pertains to a striped film which easily identifies and distinguishes the contents of a package made from the film. This identification is accomplished without the need for printing the film.
Presently, many films are printed in either monocolor or multicolor by various techniques. Printing can help to identify the nature and source of the goods packaged in the printable material, and can contribute to the aesthetics and marketing appeal of the product.
Printing is often desirable, but adds to the cost of the packaging material. Many thermoplastic packaging materials are difficult or impossible to print without pretreatment of the material surface. Accurate printing requires expensive equipment and skilled labor, and adds a processing step before the finished film or laminate is available for distribution. Printing inks can be expensive. It is desirable to provide some of the benefits of printing without incurring some of these additional costs.
The inventor has found that stripes or "lanes" of pigment, dye, etc. can be coextruded in multilayer film structures. This is accomplished using a modification of existing die technologies. The result is easily identified, highly visible packaging for tamper evidence, counterfeiting protection, or marketing appeal. These features are achieved without the need for separate printing of the packaging material.
The film is especially useful in identifying genuine goods. A specific color or colors, and a specific pattern of stripes, can be preselected and used to package a given product. Counterfeits and unauthorized copies of these products can be quickly recognized by the absence of the "signature", distinctive striped packaging material.